Turkish authorities confirmed that 12 people were killed while five others were seriously injured when a car and a minibus collided with a truck in Yenice District of Turkey’s Sanliurfa province Sunday afternoon.
Four of the fatalities died on the spot while eight others died in the hospital while undergoing treatment, authorities said. An investigation into the accident was underway.
Five others were still being treated in the hospital but were expected to survive the tragic road accident.
How the car and the minibus collided with the truck was still being investigated and the identities of the fatalities have not been disclosed as of this reporting.
Sanliurfa Province is situated in southeastern Turkey.
The province is famous for its Abrahamic sites such as Balikligöl, where Prophet Abraham was cast by Nimrod into fire that is believed to have turned to water, and Mevlid-i Halil Mosque where Abraham was born in the cave next to the mosque.
Also lying within the district, approximately 12 km (7 mi) northeast of the city of Sanliurfa, is the pre-historic site of Göbekli Tepe, where continuing excavations have unearthed 12,000 year-old sancturies dating from the early Neolithic period, considered to be the oldest temples in the world, predating Stonehenge by 6,000 years.